D&D 5E Why I Am Starting to Prefer 4d6 Drop the Lowest Over the Default Array.

[FormerlyHemlock]

What's funny is that one of the reasons I don't like rolling is because of the chance of getting the super-high-stat character. They're kind of boring.

Taking your comment at face value:

Just stick the stat in a suboptimal place. Fezzig the Str 20 Int 13 half-orc wizard: is he more boring than a Str 10 Int 13 human wizard? I think not.

 

[MoonSong]

What's funny is that one of the reasons I don't like rolling is because of the chance of getting the super-high-stat character. They're kind of boring.

For the most part I don't base my flaws on stats because I come up with character concept first, everything else second. But ... if I have the concept of the absent-minded wizard who is brilliant but obtuse it's not going to work as well if my "low" stat is a 14 instead of an 8. I just don't go the extreme you seem to want.

Thanks to 4d6 drop 1 I currently have a character with Strength 14 Dexterity 18 Constitution 15 Intelligence 14 Wisdom 17 and Charisma 18, I have a hard time approaching her. She is too godly and resilient, perhaps even the most powerful in the party by stats. (Of course the barbarian has bigger strength and the wizard has higher int. But she has more charisma than the warlock and basically same wis and dex than the ranger and can match basically all of them in skills) If I wasn't on support, didn't go around without armor, passed every chance to get magical gear and didn't focus on simple weapons I'd overshadow everybody. Even then, the party wizard doesn't think twice before bringing friendly fire on me because I can take it and they in general feel free to ignore enemies coming at me, because I can take it.

 

[MoonSong]

Taking your comment at face value:

Just stick the stat in a suboptimal place. Fezzig the Str 20 Int 13 half-orc wizard: is he more boring than a Str 10 Int 13 human wizard? I think not.

But how do you make 14 18 15 14 15 16 interesting?

 

[Barolo]

But how do you make 14 18 15 14 15 16 interesting?

Play an unarmored half-orc storm sorcerer who favors frontlining using a knife charged with booming blade. Go full in with skills such as intimidation, survival and athletics. Grab the outlander background.

If you also want some roleplaying hints, make him believe he is a full blooded orc and that gruumsh favored him with his powers at birth, to be a force of nature, and that after seeing his whole tribe being exterminated on a conflict with rival orc tribes, he had this vision his people was doing everything wrong and you, only you, know the true way of gruumsh, the one-eyed!

So much fun you will thank me for years to come.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

But how do you make 14 18 15 14 15 16 interesting?

What's the difference?

Fezzig, Str 20 Dex 15 Con 15 Int 14 Wis 16 Cha 15, half-orc wizard.

So now he's got Int 14 instead of Int 13, and you'll probably play him as pretty chill and zen due to high Wisdom--his backstory now probably includes him being a well-liked loner among the other humans and half-orcs he grew up with, just because he was so much more mature than they were and didn't have much in common with them--but there's nothing about the new stats that makes him LESS interesting than the last iteration; and if you're looking for a combat challenge, he's still a worse-than-average wizard with a bunch of tertiary stats he has no real use for, mechanically. They're mostly important for how they shape the roleplaying personality--and high and low stats are equally good at shaping personality. (Mediocre stats in the 10-12 range are the worst at shaping personality.)

What I envision for this guy is something along the lines of, "I could'a been a contender--my Ma said I'd knock their socks off in the gladiatorial arena, y'know?--but that's just not me. I don't like destroying people. I like building them up. And that's what I love about magic--I love the flow of it, the feel, the mystery of discovering how it works and how to use it more efficiently. And I love Mending people's broken fishhooks and socks and blankets. I've been working on this new spell called Fabricate. If I can get the kinks out, I think I might be able to actually make real stuff with magic, ten times or maybe a hundred times as fast as you could do without it. That excites me, y'know? I didn't want to be a contender. I wanted to make a difference."

That's one way to make him interesting.

I'd probably find a regular human paladin with that personality interesting too. (Actually, it reminds me of one PC in particular, Cranduin the Lesser, who is notable for his listening skills and the way he strives to be of service to others, e.g. camp chores like washing dishes, getting up early to stoke the fire, cleaning mud off everyone's boots while they're asleep, etc. I find him interesting because he's so very different from me, and yet I feel like I would like to be more like that: "he that is greatest among you is the least and the servant of all.")

 

[Lanefan]

But how do you make 14 18 15 14 15 16 interesting?

Were it me, I might just go all ego all the time and let the entertainment come from the other party members giving me the business whenever I messed up.

Of course, it's just occurred to me you're probably listing the stats in the wrong order and not S-I-W-D-Co-Ch like they should be. I looked at those numbers and thought "Int 18 with the rest of those stats to back it up - that's an ego looking for a place to call home!"

But if it's Dex 18 - I'd go with uber-Thief - a Locke Lamora type who gets out of trouble only slightly less often than he gets into it, and who always pushes the limits just a bit beyond where they break. A smooth elegant con man (the Cha 16 would really work here!) who can still look after himself in a fight.

Lan-"or I could trade you those stats for whatever I next roll up, if you want something more pathetic ordinary"-efan

 

[MoonSong]

Were it me, I might just go all ego all the time and let the entertainment come from the other party members giving me the business whenever I messed up.

Of course, it's just occurred to me you're probably listing the stats in the wrong order and not S-I-W-D-Co-Ch like they should be. I looked at those numbers and thought "Int 18 with the rest of those stats to back it up - that's an ego looking for a place to call home!"

But if it's Dex 18 - I'd go with uber-Thief - a Locke Lamora type who gets out of trouble only slightly less often than he gets into it, and who always pushes the limits just a bit beyond where they break. A smooth elegant con man (the Cha 16 would really work here!) who can still look after himself in a fight.

Lan-"or I could trade you those stats for whatever I next roll up, if you want something more pathetic ordinary"-efan

Those are not in any particular order. Place them wherever you want. Like I said, a character that perfect is hard to relate to -for me-. Weaknesses are as important as strengths, there is no room for being, dizzy, distracted, clumsy, dorky, or flighty with this array.

 

[FrogReaver]

But how do you make 14 18 15 14 15 16 interesting?

You make him constantly be the party drunk!

 

[Ratskinner]

3E did a lot to create the min/max super character phenomenon. I'm not big on it, wasn't big on 3rd or 3.5, but I understand plenty of players loved them. To each their own.


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I can assure you that minlmax characters were common before 3e.

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[Soul Stigma]

I can assure you that minlmax characters were common before 3e.

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I didn't say it did everything to create them. I said "a lot".


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